Seen and Unseen
by neonchica
Summary: I can make people see things...things that aren't really happening, Andy reminded him. And Sam knew that was the answer. Tag to AHBL.


**So this is totally against my norm; it's close to impossible for me to write a short story. But I couldn't get this idea out of my head. Andy's announcement of his powers kept on nagging at me and that, along with the fact that I KNOW Sam isn't really dead, kept me thinking there had to be a connection somewhere. And since I don't think anyone else did it like this (at least not that I've read), I thought I would give it a try. Let me know what you think! You all know I love those reviews. **

"_Sam, Look out!" Dean was running for him before the knife had even broken skin, eyes wide, panicked, as the knowledge that he would be too late sank like a boulder into his mind. His heartache was palpable, the clench of Dean's chest permeating through heavy air as he stumbled towards Sam. He let out a small cry of agony as he watched Jake slide the knife upwards into Sam's back, the dull blade still cutting like butter through skin and muscle and bone. Jake was that strong. _

_The look in the black man's eyes was cruel, malicious, close to insanity and he twisted the knife, challenging Dean to stop him, before removing the weapon and taking off at breakneck speed to get away from the two hunters. No time was wasted in deciding who would go where. Bobby and Dean split up without words, Bobby at a dead sprint after the man with the knife as Dean went for Sam. "Nooooo!" _

_Sam dropped heavily to his knees, no longer containing the strength to hold himself upright, and Dean fell to his own knees, arms under Sam's as he took his little brother's weight on, fear vying for its place among desperation and horror. _

"_Sam. Sam. Sam, hey. Come 'ere. Let me look at ya," Dean soothed, trying to keep his voice calm and restrained. Sam needed to know that he was in control of the situation; big brother is here and he's gonna fix everything. Pulling little brother in close, Dean reached around behind him, reaching for the wound and recoiling in horror at the amount of blood that had already been lost. _

_He managed to recover his poker face before drawing Sam away from him again, looking him straight in the eye as he assured him. "Look at me, it's not even that bad. It's not even that, bad, alright?" His voice verged on desperation, and his eyes joined the fray as he watched Sam's head loll weightlessly, indicating the lack of control his baby brother possessed over the muscles in his neck. _

"_Sammy? Hey, Sam. Listen to me. We're gonna patch you up, ok? You're gonna be good as new. Huh?" Dean's hands scrambled frantically over Sam's arms, head, neck, desperately trying to get his baby brother to perk up, to acknowledge him. But the only response he got was the roll of Sam's eyes as they retreated back into his head before the lids closed completely and his head dropped. _

_Despair increased in Dean's manner as he amped up the challenge. "I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna take care of you. I got ya. It's my job right? Watch out for my pain in the ass little brother? _

_He gripped Sam's cheeks gently between his two callused hands, thumbs kneading the soft flesh in an effort to stimulate a response. He would give anything for his baby brother's eyes to open again. "Sam? Sam." His voice wavered, near on the verge of tears. "Sam. Sammy?"_

_But there was no response. The sheer horror of the situation was finally beginning to sink in and tears welled up in Dean's normally stoic eyes as he realized Sam wasn't going to open his eyes; probably would never do so again. "No. Nonononononono. No!" He cried out, pulling Sam close to him. He could feel his own heartbeat pounding against Sam's chest, but it beat alone. There was no twin beat coming from Sam's own heart, and he broke, suddenly realizing that his sole reason for living was no more. In an instant; a single swing of an arm by some mere pipsqueak of a kid no older than Sam himself, and it was all over. Dean had officially lost everything._

_The ethereal wail that came from within Dean's throat was enough to turn heads for miles; enough to break hearts across an entire county. The desperation and loss and pure rage that came from the lost soul hugging his dead brother as though he were the final lifeline, the final link to earth, was unlike anything ever heard before. "SAAAAAAM!"_

And that was enough to break Sam's heart as he stood ramrod straight, watching the

scene unfold before him. "STOP!" He screamed, burying his face in his hands as his own set of tears sprang to his eyes. "Andy stop, please. I can't watch this anymore!"

Andy cast a sideways glance at the distraught man beside him, eyebrow shooting up in question. "I can't, Sam. He's got to leave. I can't stop now."

"Please," Sam begged, desperate eyes jumping among the crowd gathered around him. Ava stepped closer, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder as she tried to steer him away from the mirage in front of him.

"It's got to be this way," she said quietly. "You said yourself, there's no other way."

"There's got to be another way. He thinks I'm dead. It's going to kill him!"

"No," came Jake's firm reply from a few feet away. The camo clad soldier had his arms crossed tight against his chest, clearly unnerved that he had been made the enemy in the image. Somehow he had to atone for that, in spite of its fallacy. "No, Sam. It's gonna _save _him. We all heard your options; you're doing the only thing you can for him."

Sam nodded, still unconvinced, but remembering the choice he had been given by the Demon. _Dean must stop looking for you, Sam. He's coming now, and you have to convince him to let you go. You have to convince him to leave you behind."_

'_And if I don't' _Sam had asked, challenging the authority desperate Demon in front of him.

'_He can leave willingly, Sam...or he can die. Your choice._'

The glint in his opponent's eye had been so serious, so menacing, that Sam knew without a doubt he meant every word. He knew there was no choice but to convince Dean to turn around and leave without him; knew there was only one way for that to happen. Sam had to die.

The Demon had left after that, satisfied that his threats had been heard, and that his wishes would be carried out. Instantly, the remaining chosen gathered around Sam. Only Andy had witnessed the connection the distraught young man shared with his brother, but the others seemed to comprehend the exceptional debate Sam now held on his young shoulders.

"What are you going to do?" Ava voiced first, her innocent eyes seeking strength from the man she had first met in her own dreams. She too knew the bond the brother's shared, but had only heard about it, never saw it up close.

Sam shrugged, his shoulders stooped, disconsolate. And then his head fell heavy in his shaking hands, the burden of his decision too much for him to take.

"Sam. Sam, you've got to do something. You heard the man, your brother's coming for you." Jake's thick voice cut through the air, taking on the firm control of an army sergeant directing his plebes to safety.

"Like what?" Sam shot back, eyes already rimmed red although he'd wiped the tears away from prying gazes. "How do you propose I convince my brother - the man who has devoted his entire life to keeping me safe and so much as told me he would never let the Demon get control over me - to just walk away? To turn around and leave me behind like yesterday's garbage? He'll never go for it."

"But he'll die if you don't," Ava reminded him softly.

"Don't you think I know that?! You think I didn't hear what that bastard said to me?! The options he gave me?!"

Ava shrank away, taken aback by Sam's harsh reply. She was only trying to be helpful, but now she knew the reminder was unnecessary. Clearly Sam knew exactly what he was up against.

"The only way he'll stop looking for me is if he thinks I'm dead. But how can I..."

"I can make people see things," Andy reminded him, voice so low he was barely heard over the drone of the wind outside and the pounding of their collective hearts inside. He ducked his head, afraid to make eye contact for fear that Sam might blow up at him like he'd done Ava.

"What?" Instead of a blow up, Sam almost seemed hopeful as he asked Andy to repeat himself.

"I can make people see things. I can make them believe something is happening, even if it really isn't."

Sam's eyes brightened a bit at that thought, and the other two in the room inched closer again to be part of the planning. "That might work. You could make him think I'm dead; get him to leave without me."

"And that will buy you time...buy us time. Once we figure out a way to get out of the Demon's clutches you can go back to him." Jake offered, standing up and pacing the floor as he began to process the information, started to develop a plan as he had been taught in the army.

"Yeah," Sam grimaced and turned away from Jake as he vaguely offered his agreement to the soldier's plan. He had his doubts about ever being free of the Demon once Dean was no longer looking for him. It had never been far from his mind that Dean was his rock, his grounding point. Dean was his true north. And without big brother around to keep his head in the game, Sam wasn't certain they could ever evade the plans the Demon had laid out for them. But at least Dean would be safe; he'd be alive. And knowledge of the gigantic black hole of hope they faced without backup, Sam was still unwilling to go down without a fight. The fight wouldn't be over until he was dead, salted, and burned.

So they planned; discussed, arranged. And when Dean and Bobby showed up they were ready. Jake had played lookout, watching for signs of the two hunters. He signaled back to Andy as soon as Dean's leather jacket and spiky hair came into sight and Andy set to work, gears grinding as he conjured up the image of a fight between Sam and Jake; the all too convenient knife laying on the ground for the black man to impale Sam with.

Dean and Bobby split up, dividing their attention between the two figures in the picture. Several hundred yards away, Bobby discharged his gun, and the bullet found its way dead center in the chest of Jake's specter, killing the man immediately. Knowing Bobby would secure the area before returning blindly to Dean and his thought-to-be dead little brother, Andy left images of himself and Ava dead in the other buildings. With none of the known chosen children alive to chase, Dean and Bobby would have no choice but the return to square one; nobody to follow, nobody to question.

And Dean screamed, wailing Sam's name in the darkness of the night, as the four remaining chosen ones looked on. He clung to the projection of his brother's lifeless body as though it were his last possession on earth. Sam couldn't watch, didn't want to know what his brother would do in the event of his death, and yet he found he couldn't turn away. He couldn't remove himself from the sight of the horrible car wreck in front of his eyes.

Bobby finally returned to Dean, features dropping immediately as he realized the finality of the situation, and he skidded to a halt on his knees beside the anguished brother, pulling Dean into his arms and rocking him as though he were no older than a child. Dean turned his head, burying it in Bobby's shoulder as he released a lifetime's worth of tears, yet still he refused to let go of Sam. He'd pulled the limp body into his lap, desperate hands stroking the shaggy hair and still moaning his little brother's name. Over and over and over again. "Sammy. I'm so sorry, Sammy. I'm sorry. I couldn't save you. I should have saved you. I'm sorry, Sammy."

Breaking free from the group, Sam crossed the dirt road to where his brother and Bobby sat, cradling his likeness. He reached out, ready to grasp Dean's shoulder in his own, to put a stop to the madness. And then Ava was at his side, pulling him backwards with pleading eyes, begging him to return to them and allow Andy to save his brother.

Seeing the agony Dean was going through, Sam was unconvinced that Dean could ever be saved from this. He could only imagine his brother storming the countryside, set of avenging his death in the only way he knew how. That didn't seem like living to him; but the alternative was unimaginable. This had to be better than allowing Dean to die needlessly because the Demon wanted Sam and couldn't have Dean in the way of that desire. So he allowed Ava to pull him back, let her wrap her arms around him and distract him from having to watch his brother's heart shatter into pieces at the loss of the only family he had left. He allowed Andy to continue channeling the power the Demon had given him in order to save his brother.

It seemed like forever before Bobby finally convinced Dean they had to leave. Ava touched Sam on the shoulder, urging him to turn around and watch the scene unfold. He cried, watching Dean gather his image in his arms, staggering to his feet as he refused to allow Bobby to help. Felt his heart break at the tender kiss Dean placed on his forehead before adjusting baby brother's limp weight in his strong arms. Chills ran down Sam's spine as he saw Dean walk off into the hidden confines of the forest that bordered the ghost town the group had woken up in, and a fat tear trailed its way down his cheek as the final image of his brother disappeared from his view.

"Take care of yourself, Dean," Sam whispered, arm reaching out for one final attempt at touching his brother, no matter how fruitless the effort. "And please don't hate me for what I've done."


End file.
